Florence: Saturday

On Saturday, we made further use of the scooter rental.  We headed out into the Tuscan countryside to the town of San Gimignano, which is famous because the medieval wealthy families competed to build taller and taller towers.  Many of them still remain, and the city sits up on a hill, so it makes a very pretty picture.  The town is also famous for its Cinghiale: wild boar.  So we wandered around the town a bit, had lunch, wandered some more, then headed back.  Back in Florence, we returned the scooter then went to a last dinner in Florence at a pretty touristy but ok restaurant.  After dinner, we wandered around the nighttime streets of Florence, for some lovely views.

Florence: Friday

On Friday, we made a purposeful effort to get around a bit earlier.  We still ducked across the street to have brioche at our "regular" bar.  We then headed into the center of Firenze for our trip up the Cupola of the Duomo. While Amy stayed on the ground with Viviana, the rest of us (Maya and Milena included) headed up the 463 steps that lead to the top of the dome (via a path around the frescoes that decorate the interior of the dome).  It was a gorgeous day, and we had fabulous views across the city.  The girls were full of energy (I have it on good authority) and both made the trek up and down without any complaints.

After the climb and return, we headed to a lunch place Amy had spied.  It was tucked in the alleys off of the Piazza del Duomo.  We had a delicious lunch that prominently featured mushrooms among other many fresh ingredients.

After lunch, some of us did some shopping while others of us rented a scooter.  This was purely for convenience; we wanted to head out of town, but GP and Amy's car only seats 7 people.  This plus two people on a scooter covered all 9 of our party.  After renting the scooter (and waiting out some rain), we headed to Fiesole for views back over Firenze and a lovely hill top dinner.  Even though parking the car in Fiesole was a nightmare (the scooter, not so much), we had a nice time.

Florence: Thursday

On Thursday, GP and I were done with the conference, so the whole lot of us (all 9!) headed out to see the Boboli Gardens.  We first took a look at the costume gallery in the Palazzo Pitti, then we had a lunch of panini in the gardens before wandering around and looking.  We wandered up and down and up again, and out and into the Baldini Gardens as well.  These afforded nice views back into central Florence. From here, we had a snack of gelato before heading back to the apartment to clean up for dinner.  For dinner, we had reservations at a teeny restaurant named Pane e Olio not far from the apartment.  It was astoundingly delicious.

Florence: Wednesday

On Wednesday, I worked again.  Tim, Maya, Cora, Audrey, Amy, Milena, and Viviana went first in the morning to the Bargello, an old jail that has been turned into a museum.  After that (and lunch), they had a reservation for a special tour of court life at the Palazzo Vecchio (a tour targeted for 4-7 year olds).  After GP and I were finished with the conference, we all met up for a dinner of Steak Fiorentine (basically rare and delicious ribeye).